It is widely accepted that Bangalore is India’s Silicon Valley, home not only to pioneering techno geeks but some of the most innovative artists in India; Raghu Dixit in particular springs jarringly to mind.
An inventive group of musicians from the southern Indian city have now combined the two to create an entirely new genre of music that is quintessentially of the ‘iAge’.
‘Rave iBand’ is a band comprising a number of serious and extremely talented young musicians and a soulful diva at the helm who claim to be the first in Asia to use smartphones and tablet computers to make musical magic.
The band’s bluesy version of ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ is played entirely using applications for drums, bass, guitar and keyboards and is a rather peculiar yet hugely enjoyable interpretation of the monster Bollywood hit.
Band members include Riccha Paul on two Smart Phones (Mic and Percussion Apps), Charan Raj on two Tablets (Piano and Guitar Apps), DJ jDee (DJ and Sampler Apps) and Vanil Veigas on one Tablet and a Smartphone (Percussion and Flute Apps).
The band’s productions have been gaining a massive following on Facebook and YouTube where the video for ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ received 20,000 hits in one day. It’s very impressive and provides a strange sensation; particularly the sight of the accomplished lead vocalist singing into a white iPhone!
A must watch: search ‘Rave iBand’ on YouTube.
- Vijitha Alles
